The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Shear magic as Gavin wins third open final
Former Golden Shears winner on form with 20 hoggs
A shearer from the north-east of Scotland won his third open final at the 25th Scottish Blackface Championships at Lochearnhead Shears, having first won exactly 10 years ago.
Gavin Mutch is originally from Huntly but is now farming in New Zealand with his wife and children.
The former Golden Shears winner was on form to pick up the fewest board and pen marks in the fastest time of 14 minutes and four seconds for 20 hoggs to give him a total of 54.750. This compared to Lochearnhead chairman and seven-time winner Hamish Mitchell who finished second with 57.150, only six seconds behind Gavin.
Calum Shaw, winner of the Scottish National and open final at the Royal Highland Show the previous week, finished in third with 57.750.
New Zealander Jack Fagan was fourth with 65.350.
The Scotland team continued its good run in the Joe Te Kapa Scotland versus New Zealand test when Calum and Hamish scored a combined 118.250 against Nathan Stratford and David Buick’s 127.700.
Foreign shearers led the blade competition when Alan Oldfield from New Zealand finished five hoggs in 12 minutes and 10 seconds and had the lowest board score to total 81.700.
Welshman Rheinallt Hughes was second with 87.200.
The two Scottish finalists, Willie Craig and Mark Armstrong, finished third and fourth with 91.350 and 93.000, respectively.
Welsh shearers Rheinallt and Elfed Jackson then won the Scotland versus Wales blade test with 187.100 against Willie and Mark’s 203.500.
The newly-introduced plate final for the best four shearers that did not make it in to the open semi-finals saw Scott Wilson take the lead with 42.050.
With the fastest time and equal best pen score, Kiwi shearer Karipa Tumohe won the senior final, while Alex Mathers was second and Emily Te Kapa and Shelley King were third and fourth.
Ireland’s Samuel McNabney not only won the senior final but also the Colin McGregor Salver for the best pen score in any final.
In second place was Cameron Wilson with Alan Oldfield in third and Robert McKellar in fourth.
Leading the junior final was Finlay Robertson, with Joanne Devaney and Katie Reid in second and third, while Ben Wight finished fourth.
There was further success for the Scotland team when Ben Wight and Katie Reid won the Scotland versus Republic of Ireland development test with 73.250 against Joanne Devaney and Kevin Burke’s 89.600.
Winner at the Highland last week, Rosie Keenan added another open wool-handling win to her haul.
She finished in the fastest time with the lowest table score to give a total of 52.600.